The harpoon is one of the oldest hunting tools known to man having been developed by prehistoric people as a variation to the spear. Originally, the harpoon was hand thrown like a spear and had an arrow-like head, with a line attached in order to retrieve an animal, and was used particularly in the hunting of whales and marine animals, such as sharks, billfish and tuna. Over thousands of years the same basic design of the harpoon was maintained.
With the rise of commercial whaling in the 1800's various new designs of harpoons became available. Most harpoons of this era were constructed of a wooden handle and an iron head. The arrow shaped head was allowed to pivot 90 degrees, once the harpoon penetrated the catch. A harpoon design included attachment to a line for hauling the catch of the fishing vessel.
With increased development in commercial fishing and sport fishing since the 1960's, new designs of harpoon were developed, mostly constructed of wood and aluminum. The recent changes in harpoon development include use of aluminum shafts, weighted heads and detachable darts (arrows).
Recent harpoons have lengths in the range of about 8 to about 10 feet, and are constructed as single articles of manufacture. As harpoons became more popular in the sport fishing industry as an accessory to rod and reel fishing to land large fish, new streamlined harpoons were developed. As most are one piece, it is cumbersome to stow the large harpoon on a small non-commercial vessel.